Combustion engines, e.g., diesel engines, gasoline engines, natural gas engines, and other engines known in the art, often consume, e.g., burn, oil during operation. A variation in oil consumption is typically an indication of one or more engine problems or undesirable engine performance. These problems or undesirable engine performance may decrease the life of the engine, engine components, and/or associated systems. A method of monitoring oil consumption may include monitoring and measuring the amount of sulfur present within engine exhaust. In such a method, the sulfur present in the engine fuel is usually less than 1-2 parts per million (ppm) on a weight-weight ratio and it is typically assumed that the significant source of sulfur present in the engine exhaust is caused by burnt engine oil. Because the measured amounts of sulfur in the engine exhaust are typically small, e.g., 30 parts per billion (ppb) on weight-volume ratio, calibration of the sulfur measuring system is required to insure accurate correlation between the measured amounts of sulfur and oil consumption.
One calibration method is described in SAE Paper 1999-01-3461 (“the '461 paper”). In the method of the '461 paper, a known quantity of sulfur dioxide is injected directly into a sulfur analyzer in order to calibrate the system. The sulfur analyzer then establishes a reading or series of readings for the known quantity of sulfur dioxide. Any difference between the readings and the known quantity is determined to be the calibration error. Depending on the system, the sulfur analyzer can be adjusted to zero out the error, e.g., rotating a dial to reset a baseline measurement, or the testing output can be corrected to eliminate the error, e.g., subtracting the calibration error from subsequently determined readings.
The calibration method of the '461 paper assumes that no variances exist between the calibration method and the testing method and, thus, does not account for environmental factors that differ from the calibration location and the testing location. Additionally, the method of the '461 paper calibrates the measurement device, e.g., an analyzer, by comparing a known amount of sulfur dioxide with a reading, which corrects potential errors with the analyzer but may not account for other system and/or environment factors when the analyzer is used to measure the sulfur present in engine exhaust.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the shortcomings set forth above.